


A Pretty Picture (The Scenery Is So Loud)

by sweeterthankarma



Series: Pride Month Prompts 2020 [26]
Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020), DC Extended Universe
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Post-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:21:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24958285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweeterthankarma/pseuds/sweeterthankarma
Summary: Just when they reach the back door of the venue, Harley asks for what must be the tenth time in the past ten minutes, “what time does our babe come on?”“She’smybabe,” Helena corrects with just the right amount of snappiness to make Harley widen her eyes and hold her hands up in mock surrender. Helena hears her under her breath when she comments, “ooh, protective” and then erupts into a fit of drunken self-directed giggles, and it gives Helena more than enough motive to turn around and shush her, warning her to be quiet.“Wait, is this a sneak entrance?” Harley gasps, and Helena groans. She’s told her this multiple times already.
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli & Dinah Lance & Harleen Quinzel, Helena Bertinelli/Dinah Lance
Series: Pride Month Prompts 2020 [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769956
Comments: 10
Kudos: 56





	A Pretty Picture (The Scenery Is So Loud)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Pride Month and welcome to my first ever month-long fic challenge! For thirty days, I'll be writing and posting LGBTQ+ fics inspired by the prompts listed [here](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/517562182177703635/). These fics will be anywhere from 100-1,500 words, will be for different fandoms, ships and characters, and will all stand alone. Here goes nothing!
> 
> Day 26 Prompt: Back door.
> 
> Title comes from the song "Miss Jackson" by Panic! at the Disco and Lolo because whenever I hear or read the word "back door," this song gets stuck in my head and refuses to get unstuck.

A few months after Roman’s club shuts down, Dinah finds a new place to sing at. It’s in a far better area of Gotham than she’s used to frequenting, filled with rich tourists and art on the walls that Dinah thinks would end up emptying her entire bank account should she do so much as even bump into it. Money’s the exact reason she claims to be here, spending a few nights a week surrounded by strangers who tip as heavily as they drink, but the birds all know that she loves singing more than she’s willing to admit and has taken the job for more than just cash. She’s happier than they’ve seen her in weeks when she comes home from her shift, her eyelids caked in a metallic blend of glitter and bronzer, and her dark lipstick a bit smudged. Helena stands by her side, one hand in hers and the other grasping her keys. She’s Dinah’s ride, and also donning her own fair share of mussed color on the corners of her lips. Harley cracks a comment over it nearly every night and Helena rolls her eyes but takes it; it’s impossible to resist Dinah on nights like this and she’s not the type to keep makeup remover in her car— though at this point, she probably should.

Why Dinah holds back confessing her love for performing, Harley, Renee and Cass don’t know, but Helena marvels in the secrecy with which she gets serenaded by her nearly every night. Whether it be in the shower, while cooking, or just for a few moments as she hums a melody to herself while getting ready for bed, it always unknowingly makes Helena’s day. She’s got a gorgeous voice, controlled and smooth and soft as anything yet powerful without even trying. It’s rejuvenating, sending shivers through Helena’s spine at every song, and it’s clear that it energizes Dinah; she always bounds off the stage in a giddy haze, her smile wide and unwavering. 

Tonight will be no different, Helena knows. She’s running a little late for Dinah’s set tonight, hurrying down the sidewalk and back down the darkened alleyway with a drunk Harley stumbling behind her. She didn’t want Harley to come, knew that she’d slow her down and make them stop at that bodega with the best deep fried corn dogs— and how those five words can even string together is beyond Helena, considering she’s a vegetarian and also considers most grease covered foods to be on the same playing field of “average” and “only sufferable when intoxicated.” She supposes that’s why Harley’s holding three and shoving two in her mouth right now, all the while trying to repeat a joke Cass had made earlier.

Heavy, industrial music floods Helena’s eardrums. She can’t help but grin a little at it, the feeling of the bass pounding lowly against her ribcage. It’s familiar, a sign of the night and all of the fun that comes along with it, and something Helena has tied irrevocably to Dinah, her girlfriend.

Speaking of, just when they reach the back door of the venue, Harley asks for what must be the tenth time in the past ten minutes, “what time does our babe come on?”

“She’s  _ my  _ babe,” Helena corrects with just the right amount of snappiness to make Harley widen her eyes and hold her hands up in mock surrender. Helena hears her under her breath when she comments, “ooh, protective” and then erupts into a fit of drunken, self-directed giggles, and it gives Helena more than enough motive to turn around and shush her, warning her to be quiet.

“Wait, is this a sneak entrance?” Harley gasps, and Helena groans. She’s told her this multiple times already, too.

Helena ignores her, slipping the edge of an old expired credit card through the slot of the door and fiddling it just the right way until she can pull on the handle and let herself in. She has half a mind to leave Harley out here to freeze in the cold— she’s got liquor in her system, she won’t feel the weather anyway— but after pretending for just a moment that she’s locked her out, she opens up the door and ushers Harley in. 

“Huntress’s got jokes,” Harley comments, slurring her words just a bit as she gives Helena an approving nod. She trips at the same moment she puts her hand up for a high five, her body plummeting to the floor with a loud thud and exclamatory swear word, and thank god that the door is already shut behind them— and Helena is so good at looking intimidating that none of the other performers say a thing. 

In fact, only two of them see her and give her the slightest bit of attention, but they’re so used to seeing her here by now that they don’t think anything of it. Harley’s a different story, dressed as bright and colorful as always and reeking of butter despite the fact that she dropped her snacks somewhere along the way. Helena kneels to grab a beer from one of the nearby coolers, knowing just where they’re kept despite the fact that the lights are lower than usual in this corner of the dressing rooms— and it works in their favor when Harley takes one sip of it and spits it out, disgusted.

“Bud Light? Really?” she asks, sounding insulted.

“You can get a real drink in fifteen minutes, max, if you behave,” Helena promises, her voice tinged with annoyance. “Not like you need one though.”

Harley seems pleased at this but nurses her beer anyway, though she makes a face after each sip.

They catch Dinah on stage during her second verse, sneaking out through the rear hallways that circle around to the back of the bar. They head up to the stage, standing in the wings just close enough for Dinah to see them. Helena stands right where the spotlights always hit, letting herself be blinded because she knows Dinah will notice her, and the reaction she’ll get in turn will be worth enduring the flashes she’ll see behind her eyelids each time she blinks for the next half hour. 

The notes float easily out of Dinah's mouth and into the airwaves, making Helena feel like she could reach out and touch them, grasp them in her palm and keep them. In a way, she can almost do that, seeing as Dinah only ever strays from her side at times when they’re working or split up on a mission.

Sure enough, Dinah sees them and adds a little more emphasis to her performance on the last chorus, sneaking a sly motion of an air kiss in Helena’s direction before moving back behind the curtains. She gives a slight tilt of her head, encouraging them to find her backstage, as if Helena wasn’t already turned on her heels and heading that way.

“Did you see that?!” Harley squeals. “That was so directed at you, Crossbow Killer!”

She uses the name as a joke now, a chide more affectionate than anything else she could offer, and even though Helena kind of likes it, she still flips her off. 

If she’s honest, she more than likes being part of this group, this little family she’s found with the birds, as messy and chaotic and unconventional as it may be. And she more than  _ loves  _ the way she collides into Dinah’s arms as soon as she sees her, framing her face in her hands and pressing her lips messily against her own as she feels the silk of Helena’s dress tickle her torso, exposed by her crop top. Harley lets out a wolf-whistle behind them, a sound that would be reciprocated with Helena’s fist to her face if she were anyone else. Instead, she turns around with a smug grin that turns into a genuine smile as Harley barrels into Dinah for a hug.

“Oh my god, why are you wet?” Dinah asks when she pulls away, giving Helena a concerned look.

“She’s drunk off her ass, who knows. It could be grease,” Helena says, then pulls away as Dinah makes a disgusted face and goes to rub her hands on her jacket.

“What?” she says. “This dress cost more than our apartment, ain’t no way I’m wiping my hands on this.”

Helena scoffs but pulls her into another kiss all the same, ignoring the way she can hear Harley gargling beer behind them.  _ Gargling beer.  _ She can’t take Harley anywhere.

“Hey,” she exclaims when Helena and Dinah finally break away from each other, “that explains why every time you come home from these shifts you both look like Mista J!”

“Hey, I thought we were never going to say his name again,” Dinah replies with a warning finger held up.

“I had to for comedic effect,” Harley says. “Besides, was I wrong?” 

Helena flips her off again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi and celebrate pride month with me on Tumblr [here.](https://sweeterthankarma.tumblr.com/)


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